Hilarious video on the state of complementary medicines in Australia.

March 21, 2013

The new (Australian) ABC program, The Checkout, has featured a segment on the regulation of complementary medicines in Australia. By highlighting products that are claimed to help in weight reduction, the segment illustrates how the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration is completely ineffectual in regulating this kind of pseudoscience.

COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINES
The Australian Complementary Medicines industry is worth over $1.2 billion a year. But do manufacturers have to do enough prove their products work? Should we expect more ‘proof’? And should consumers be made more aware that the listing of their pills may be based on traditional use rather than any well reviewed scientific experiment?

The Therapeutic Goods Administration are currently reviewing their rules for complementary medicines. The reviews don’t deal with all the concerns we have raised, but do attempt to close some of the weaker elements of the current rules. Here’s Dr Ken Harvey’s response. Industry players are already pushing back against the changes so if you think there should be higher standards for your complementary medicines you can contact Catherine King the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Aging.

The Secular 10 Commandments

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.
2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.
3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
4. Every person has the right to control over their body.
5. Gods are not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.
6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.
7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.
8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.
9. There is no one right way to live.
10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.